A Balanced Budget
By Bernard Rapoport
[Bernard Rapoport is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the American Income Life Insurance Company. He is a past Chairman of the Regents of the University of Texas.]
In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens described the end of the eighteenth century as "the best of times" and "the worst of times." Were Dickens living and writing today, he could use the same words to describe the end of this century. Years of "growth and prosperity" suggest that there are reasons for optimism, yet increasing poverty, a loss of commitment to education, and a growing crisis in our healthcare system are but a few reasons for pessimism. Another reason for pessimism is that we have allowed simple words to paralyze our society and government.
Some historian in years to come might very well hold President Ronald Reagan responsible for emphasizing the one word that most contributes to paralysis, the one word that today stands in the way of improving social conditions in our country. That word is "budget."
It is not my intention to defame President Reagan, but if I fault him for one thing more than any other, it is the paralysis he imposed upon the nation that twice elected him. That paralysis is a result of his fixation on the world "budget."
That the word doesn`t work effectively in business is pointed out by Oren Harari in his book, Leapfrogging the Competition.
I recently had a conversation with a CEO of a struggling $100-million company. He complained that every year he would wind up spending literally two months immersed in an abhorrent, wasteful budgeting process.
There are many reasons why I think it folly when politicians refer to this word as an excuse for not meeting social responsibilities-especially in the areas of health or education-when they know full well that government accounting is totally different from business accounting.
Consider just one public policy initiative that wouldn`t have passed the budget fixation that today has our country in a state of paralysis. I suspect that many in my age bracket feel as I do-that the single most important piece of legislation passed in the 20th Century was the G.I. Bill of Rights. I do not mean to diminish the importance of Social Security, unemployment compensation, or civil rights legislation-each of which has proved vital to a sustainable democratic society. But what was so admirable about the passage of the G.I. Bill of Rights legislation is that to pass it, the politicians said: "Budget be damned! Educating our youngsters comes first."
Any mathematician or statistician who attempts to track the return on investments will have to concede that no business ever made an investment for which the financial return in any way approached the return on the G.I. Bill of Rights. And I am talking about dollars and cents. That investment in the education of those who served in this country`s armed forces has been repaid many times over-in dollars and cents-by the productivity of the GIs the government invested in.
And it is only through continued investment in education that our democracy will survive. I believe in standards for those who seek higher education, as well as those who pursue education in a technical school. Anyone who has been involved in education knows that the President`s advocacy of a national standard is essential, if for only one reason: in individual school districts, there is so much parochial, ethnic, racial, and financial disagreement that somehow there is more political concern than interest in the education of a child. You can`t impose education; you can`t order it; it has to be something an individual wants. But public schools and good teachers are the first priority.
Education rarely turns a profit-in the short run. And a budget is an instrument that works in the short run. But what could be a greater investment in the long-term future of this country than money spent on education? Investment in a system of education that would include every American who wants an education-from Head Start through at least a bachelor`s degree or technical school diploma. That would be investment in the future of this country. Nothing says that our nation is destined to exist forever, or that its survival is a given. But education can improve the odds for survival, because investment in education is investment in the social capital that creates financial capital.
And in a truly democratic society, the abstract noun "education" should be preceded by the adjective "public." I have no complaints about private schools, but our first responsibility to all of our children is to provide them access to a first-rate public education. Without it there can be no democracy. Civil rights legislation was late in coming, and we all recognize the benefits in brought us. Yet had we put in place forty years ago a system of accessible public education, like the one I described, the debate over affirmative action might today be moot. We didn`t, so affirmative action is not only advisable, but necessary-at the very least as an attempt to level the playing field.
The word "budget" should not be allowed to stand in the way of creating a level playing field. While a government does not keep books like a corporation, which has a balance statement and profit-and-loss statement, it does keep books. When a company purchases a computer, for example, it does not diminish the company`s balance sheet in any way. It reduces the amount of cash, but not the amount of assets. The computer has one purpose, and that is to increase the bottom line-the profit, if you please. My point is that we need to think in those terms when we consider investment in public education and Head Start. The true bottom line for society is the benefit derived from a better-educated populace; less crime and greater contributions from each individual citizen-not only financial contributions, but the social contributions that occur when people are profitably employed.
So social investments can have the same or even greater returns than so-called financial investments. There is no poverty in the lives of those who have an education or a trade. Of course, the naysayer can point to instances where that is not true, yet, if we are just 75 percent right, our society is going in the right direction. Look how far we have progressed because of good social legislation. We must never forget that poverty in virtually every instance is a result of ignorance. Albert Camus wrote that "Poverty is imprisonment without a drawbridge." In a just society, the drawbridge that provides an escape from poverty is training and education. Our children, as John White admonished us, are "the message we send to a time we will not see." If we fail them, as Jacqueline Kennedy observed, "then no other success in life really counts."
I am reminded of a story told by George Mitchell, the former federal judge and majority leader of the Senate. As a judge presiding over the naturalization of new citizens, it was George Mitchell`s pleasure to shake the hand of each new citizen. On one occasion, he asked someone from Vietnam, "Why did you want to become an American citizen?" With tears in his eyes, the man responded, "Because in America, everyone has a chance."
You and I know that this is not as true as it ought to be; it is not as true as it can be. But it becomes less true when we tolerate social paralysis-the sort of paralysis caused by a word such as "budget."
I close with an anecdote that suggests how we ought to view life, and suggests how great America can be if we view life the right way. It is revealed in a story told by a famous rabbi:
A beloved rabbi, when he was yet a young child, was playing with a group of children who were climbing a ladder. All his friends were afraid to climb to the top, but he had no fear. Later, his grandfather asked him, "Why were you not afraid to climb and the others were?" "Because as they climbed, they kept looking down," the boy replied. "They saw how high they were, and they were frightened. As I climbed, I kept looking upward. I saw how low I was, and it motivated me to climb higher."
If you have read this far, I hope you are saying to yourselves that in this nation, everyone is going to have a chance. We must not cease the struggle-we must not stop climbing and providing others what they need to climb, until the top of the ladder becomes a reality for all.
